Nothing is official yet, but Bill Madden of the New York Daily Newsreports that the Royals have agreed to trade Mark Teahen to the White Sox for Chris Getz and Josh Fields.
According to Madden the White Sox plan to use Teahen in right field as the replacement for free agent Jermaine Dye, who’s not expected back in Chicago. Teahen made $3.575 million this season and has two more years of increasingly expensive arbitration eligibility ahead of him, so the Royals were smart to cash him in now for a pair of young, cheap players, although neither Getz nor Fields is particularly promising.
Despite having a reputation in some circles for being an impact player, Teahen has a modest .269/.331/.419 career hitting line, including .271/.325/.408 this season, and has topped an .800 OPS once in five years. And for all the talk of his supposed defensive versatility, in reality he’s a sub par third baseman who’s logged all of 23 career innings at second base. In other words, he’s basically a corner outfielder or first baseman with a .749 lifetime OPS, which just isn’t very valuable in a 28-year-old making good money.
Getz and Fields aren’t exactly stud prospects, of course, but they have a chance to be solid contributors for the Royals and just as importantly they’re both cheaply under team control for years. Getz hit .261/.324/.347 with 25 steals in 107 games this season as a 25-year-old rookie after batting .301/.369/.442 in 116 games at Triple-A. His defense graded out poorly according to Ultimate Zone Rating, but he should be able to hit .275 or so with a decent on-base percentage, a handful of homers, and good speed.
Fields is tougher to figure, because after a solid rookie season in 2007 he spent nearly all of 2008 in the minors and then struggled between Triple-A and Chicago this year. He’s hit just .229/.302/.416 through 204 games in the majors, which isn’t very promising when combined with the fact that he’ll be 27 years old next month and may not have the glove to stick at third base. Fields has hit .281/.370/.485 in 282 games at Triple-A and has 25-homer power, but he strikes out a ton and doesn’t walk much.
By adding Getz and Fields to the mix the Royals have raised questions about Alex Gordon and Alberto Callaspo while perhaps setting up another trade. Getz doesn’t have much upside beyond “decent all-around second baseman” and Fields is a coin-flip to have even that much value at this point, but he’s not without potential thanks to his power. Plus, parting with Teahen has very little impact on the Royals now or in the future, because he’s a mediocre 28-year-old about to make too much money.
I’m not particularly high on Getz or Fields, but to me this is still a pretty clear win for the Royals, which isn’t something that has been said much since Dayton Moore took over as general manager. For the White Sox, while Teahen wouldn’t be particularly valuable in right field moving Getz could allow Gordon Beckham to shift from third base to second base while clearing the way for general manager Ken Williams to make a major run at free agent Chone Figgins.

There is literally nothing you could tell me that the incoming administration is considering which would shock me anymore. As such, I saw this story when I woke up this morning, blinked once, took a sip of coffee, closed the browser window and just went on with my morning, as desensitized as a wisdom tooth about to be yanked.

Rob Bradford of WEEI reports that Former Red Sox, Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine is on a short-list of candidates for the job of United States Ambassador to Japan:

The 66-year-old, who currently serves as Sacred Heart University’s athletics director, has engaged in preliminary discussions with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team regarding the position.

Valentine managed the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League for six seasons, leading the team to a championship in 2005. He also knows the current prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, as both went to USC. Assuming championship teams meet the country’s leader in Japan like they do in the United States, Valentine has at least twice the amount of experience with top political leaders than does, say, Ned Yost, so that’s something.

The former manager, more importantly, is friends with Donald Trump’s brother, with the two of them going way back. Which, given how this transition is going, seems like a far more important set of qualifications than anything else on this list.

Frank Cusumano of KSDK Sports reports that free agent outfielder will take a physical in St. Louis on Friday. Presumably, that means that Fowler and the Cardinals have gotten pretty far along in negotiations.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports recently reported that Fowler was looking for $18 million per year. The Blue Jays reportedly made an offer to Fowler in the four-year, $16 million range several days ago. The Cardinals’ offer to Fowler, if there is indeed one, is likely somewhere between the two figures.

Fowler, 30, is coming off of a fantastic year in which he helped the Cubs win their first World Series since 1908. During the regular season, he hit .276/.393/.447 with 13 home runs, 48 RBI, 84 runs scored, and 13 stolen bases in 551 plate appearances.

Fowler rejected the Cubs’ $17.2 million qualifying offer last month. While the QO compensation negatively affected Fowler’s experience in free agency last offseason — he didn’t sign until late February with the Cubs — his strong season is expected to make QO compensation much less of an issue.